Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) Stock Falls 7% – Here’s What Happened

Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM)’s stock price was down 7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday. The company traded as low as $7.66 and last traded at $7.6750. 1,573,566 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 30% from the average session volume of 2,262,950 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.25.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VSTM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Guggenheim set a $12.00 price target on shares of Verastem and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Verastem from $15.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Verastem in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on shares of Verastem in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Mizuho set a $13.00 target price on shares of Verastem and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.83.

Verastem Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $683.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.85 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50 day moving average of $7.47 and a 200 day moving average of $5.87. The company has a quick ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.35) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by $0.08. Verastem had a negative return on equity of 467.49% and a negative net margin of 231.59%. The firm had revenue of $40.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.88 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verastem, Inc. will post -1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verastem news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 44,121 shares of Verastem stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.00, for a total value of $352,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 652,712 shares in the company, valued at $5,221,696. The trade was a 6.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 48,044 shares of company stock valued at $381,484. 1.94% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VSTM. Opaleye Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verastem in the second quarter worth approximately $6,876,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Verastem in the second quarter valued at approximately $706,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Verastem by 157.2% in the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 569,195 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,174,000 after purchasing an additional 347,872 shares during the period. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP increased its position in Verastem by 715.1% during the first quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 123,400 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $654,000 after purchasing an additional 108,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Verastem by 31.6% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 416,985 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,210,000 after purchasing an additional 100,123 shares during the last quarter. 88.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Verastem

Verastem Oncology (NASDAQ:VSTM) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing targeted therapies for cancers driven by abnormalities in the RAS/MAPK signaling pathway. The company’s research is aimed at addressing cancers with limited treatment options, including ovarian cancer and other solid tumors.

Verastem’s lead product, avutometinib, is a treatment targeting the RAF/MEK signaling pathway and is marketed in the United States under the brand name Avmapki for certain patients with recurrent low-grade serous ovarian cancer.